BBC - Top of the Pops - Through The Ages Contact Us Top Of The Pops shimmied onto our TV screens on New Year's Day 1964, armed with hordes of a scary new faction called 'young people' and presented by cigar-chomping tracksuit-model Jimmy Savile (although he was relatively normal back then). If that wasn't enough to scare the bejesus out of parents across the nation, the show was shot live, and in its first edition featured such greats as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield and the Hollies. And here's a shocker for the uninitiated, although the early shows were live, the acts actually MIMED to their songs! Lost for words? So were they! Sadly, the first ever show is lost to history forever, but hey, that miming thing really took off, eh? The Beatles - 'I Feel Fine' Performed 3rd Decmber 1964 Top of the Pops (1st January 1964) RE-ENACTMENT - YouTube Top of the Pops (1st January 1964) RE-ENACTMENT Want to watch this again later?

Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Oct 4, 2012 Is this a footage of the first ever episode of Top of the Pops presented by Jimmy Savile or a re-enactment ?? If this is real, then it's a very rare clip, as this episode has been wiped by the BBC. UPDATE: Thanks to Robin Carmody for confirming this as an re-enactment. Category Jimmy Savile to co-present last ever Top of the Pops | News | The Stage Jimmy Savile to co-present last ever Top of the Pops Share Now Jimmy Savile will co-present the last ever episode of Top of the Pops, 42 years after he presented the debut episode, it was revealed today. The long-running show will come to an end with its 2,204th episode on July 30 when 79-year-old Savile will appear alongside other former presenters including Tony Blackburn, Mike Read and Pat Sharp.

"I did the first one, and I'll do the last," Savile told producers. According to a spokesman, the details of the format for the final show and even which bands will appear, have yet to be decided. Despite the end of Top of the Pops, TOTP2 on BBC2 will continue, as will the magazine and website. BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Curtain falls on Top of the Pops Curtain falls on Top of the Pops Savile presented the first Top of the Pops and will co-host the last Savile's memories Recording has ended for the final edition of Top of the Pops at BBC Television Centre in London. Just under 200 members of the public were in the audience for the programme, co-hosted by veteran disc jockey Sir Jimmy Savile, its very first presenter. Janice Long also returned to record links for the show's swansong, alongside Tony Blackburn and Mike Read. But no live bands took part in the programme, which will instead feature celebrity tributes and archive footage. The programme will be shown on Sunday, 30 July.

BBC - Press Office - BBC says fond farewell to Top of the Pops Top of the Pops, the world's longest running weekly music show, will end its run on 30 July 2006, Jana Bennett, BBC Director of Television, announced today. The decision to bring the show to an end after 42 years has not been taken lightly and over the past few years every effort has been made to maintain the quality and distinctiveness of the show. However the BBC's Creative Future Music Strategy has concluded that in a rapidly changing musical landscape Top of the Pops no longer occupies the central role it once did. Over recent years the show has faced ever increasing competition from multi-media and niche musical outlets which enable viewers to consume music of their choice any time night or day in a way that Top of the Pops simply cannot deliver in its current weekly format. At the same time, the breadth and diversity of music programming across the BBC's television portfolio has dramatically increased, reflecting the increasingly diverse landscape of audiences' taste in music.

a new series of contemporary music sessions on BBC ONE; a new series on the history of rock called The Seven Ages of Rock for BBC TWO; extended coverage of the Reading/Leeds Festival on BBC THREE; and a long-running series that goes back to the roots of soul music called Soul Britainnia on BBC FOUR. There will also be a renewed commitment to established brands such as Later. with Jools Holland on BBC TWO and the BBC FOUR Sessions. Jana Bennett said: "We're very proud of a show which has survived 42 years in the UK and gone on to become a worldwide brand but the time has come to bring the show to its natural conclusion. "Although we bid a fond farewell to Top of the Pops we remain as passionate as ever about reflecting the vitality of contemporary music across all our channels." Roly Keating, Controller, BBC TWO added: "I've really enjoyed the last year that Top of the Pops has transmitted on BBC TWO and the team did a stirling job in revitalising the format for our audience, but we all recognise that the time has come to move on." Mark Cooper, BBC Head of Entertainment Group, said: "It's not easy bidding farewell to such a treasured, favoured friend.

"Although the time has come to say goodbye to the show, we're absolutely committed to creating music television on the BBC and we'll value working with the music industry in shaping our coverage." The end of the weekly show does not mark the total disappearance of the Top of the Pops brand from British television screens. It will continue to feature in programmes such as TOTP2 - BBC TWO's archive show based on the Top of the Pops back-catalogue - which will sometimes incorporate new performance as well as one-off specials. Top of the Pops Top 20 Countdown Facts & Figures 20 Top of the Pops first transmitted live from a converted church in Dickinson Road, Manchester at 6.35pm on BBC ONE, New Year's Day 1964. It was presented by Jimmy Savile who opened the show with the immortal line: "It's Number One, it's Top of the Pops". The Rolling Stones were the first band to perform singing I Wanna Be Your Man and the full line also included Dusty Springfield, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Cliff Richard & The Shadows and Freddie & The Dreamers.

The first Number One on Top of the Pops was The Beatles with I Wanna Hold Your Hand. 19 There have been a total of 10 different theme tunes, the latest being Tony Gibber's Get Out Of That (& this) 2003 remix. 18 There have been 13 different Top of the Pops logos and opening sequences over the show's 42 year history. 17 The record for the most number of appearances on Top of the Pops is held by Cliff Richard - almost 160 times. More than 150 people have presented the show from Sir Jimmy Savile to Robbie Williams. 15 In October 1982 Dexy's Midnight Runners appeared on Top of the Pops to perform Jackie Wilson Said - their tribute to the soul legend. Appearing on the screen behind them, however, was a giant picture of Jocky Wilson, the darts player, a deliberate joke as requested by the band. 14 Status Quo have made 87 appearances on Top of the Pops and have performed over the five decades of the show's history in the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties, Nineties and the 2000s.

Their first performance was on 8 February 1968 singing Pictures of Matchstick Men and they last appeared on 18 September 2005 performing The Party Ain't Over Yet. 13 The great miming disaster of 1988 occurred during All About Eve's live performance of Martha's Harbour. A crew member tripped over the power switch in the studio leaving the singer, Julianne Regan, without her cue for the backing track. Her song was being broadcast live to the nation while Julianne sat on a stool in a pool of dry ice wondering what on earth was going on. 12 In 2001 Travis decided to bring chaos to Top of the Pops and re-enact their video for their single Sing by starting a custard pie fight on the show. 11 In 1967 Jimi Hendrix was seen attempting to mime Purple Haze while an Alan Price record was being inadvertently played as the backing track. 10 During the 500th edition of Top of the Pops in October 1973, Cliff Richard's performance was interrupted when the stage was showered by wigs.

The culprits were The Who's roadies who had become bored and raided the props department. 9 Before the dawn of the video age, dance troupes were employed to entertain the audience on the occasions when a band were unable to appear on the show themselves. The first was a group of three girls called The Go-Jo's who were replaced by dance sirens Pan's People in 1968. In 1976 Ruby Flipper took over that mantle only to be replaced later that year by Legs & Co who remained until 1981 when the reign of lovely long legged ladies was brought to an end by the debut of a troupe of 20 interchangeable male and female dancers named Zoo. 8 On 24 July 1975, the former Prime Minister Edward Heath arrived unannounced at the Top of the Pops studio to hear Bing Crosby perform That's What Life Is All About. 7 The respected folk-rock group Steeleye Span once doubled as Wombles to perform Superwomble because Mike Batt (Womble-in-chief) was short of musicians for the show.

6 In 1991 Nirvana performed Smells Like Teen Spirit live with lead singer Kurt Cobain singing the entire song an octave lower than normal and without the famous screams in the chorus due to problems with his voice. The performance ended with what was officially the first spontaneous stage invasion. There have been four other since during appearances by Backstreet Boys, Symposium, Oasis and Limp Bizkit. 5 Madonna left a gap of nearly 11 years between performing Like A Virgin on 13 December 1984 and You'll See on 2 November 1995. 4 The record for having the most people on stage at Top of the Pops was held by Sting, who performed Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot with a nine-piece band and 43 gospel singers. This was broken by Fat Les singing Jerusalem to celebrate England's Euro 2000 effort, they managed to squeeze more than 70 people on stage. 3 On 24 January 2003, Flaming Lips made their Top of the Pops debut singing Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots but unbeknown to the audience they were harbouring a very special guest guitarist who performed cunningly disguised head to toe in a dolphin costume.

At the end of the song the mystery guest pulled off his dolphin head to be revealed as Justin Timberlake. 2 Top of the Pops is a global brand which has transmitted in more than 120 countries. Top of The Pops - Moments that shook a living room "You can't even tell if it's a bloke or a woman!" LONG before it became the corporate wheel-'em-on, wheel-'em-off trade show it is now, The 'Pops was a crucial Thursday night festival of scaffolding, sex, and bizarre goings on. The feeling, especially when it was live, was that anything could happen. And, by accident, design, or a bit of both, it often did. Here's a slice of 'Pops life that will always be remembered by someone, somewhere... MORE POPS IMAGES IN THE SET DESIGN HISTORY "He's drunk!" (or worse) Rick Parfitt from Status Quo staggered backwards into the drummer, falling off the stage and taking most of the kit with him. Chemically induced, for sure. The rest of the band just carried on regardless. Again mid '80s - Marguerita Time could (appropriately) well have been the track.

Julian Cope preferred a couple of Green Shields before attempting to mime "Passionate Friend" live atop a piano - after nearly being knocked out by a swooping camera crane. He later revealed the ordeal as a constant battle to avoid sinking into the piano lid, while desperately struggling to mime the words (he failed pretty abysmally). Subverting the medium Jockey Wilson made an infamous appearance in the background for Dexy's rendition of Jackie Wilson Says. A researcher/technician was evidently on a wind-up, here. Kevin Rowland didn't seem to mind, though... The KLF were "masters of media subversion", or so they like to tell everyone, but when it came to the 'Pops, they held back a bit. A late '80s incarnation as The Timelords (with the self-consciously awful Doctorin' The Tardis) was originally to be "performed" by "Ford Timelord", the US police car that featured in the video, just sitting in the studio. The producers wouldn't have it. So, instead, a crappy home-made Dalek and Gary Glitter were drafted in.

Subsequent guest spots tended to involve Bill and Jimmy clad in monks' habits with large rhino horns stuck to their head. For, of course, no adequately explained reason. And Mark E Smith doing his usual pose of reading the lyrics off his Inspiral Carpets-backed "I Want You Back" off a crumpled sheet of A4 (we imagine the producer nixed the accompanying pint of bitter and Capstan full-strength at the last minute). Shaun Ryder also tried the same trick, but that was probably because he genuinely had forgotten the words to his own song. "Psst... you're on!" All About Eve infamously failed to take their cue to mime Martha's Harbour live in 1988. The music played out for broadcast, the cameras went through the choreographed moves, but someone forgot to turn on the studio monitors. The result - the poor saps just sat there, shrugging bemusedly at the audience, for the first two minutes of the song. Career killer? Well, it didn't help much, put it that way. Get Dancing Who can forget that new romantic wannabe audience member falling off a dance podium while in close up...

The resident 'Pops dancers (Pan's People, Ruby Flipper and Legs and Co., respectively) went to inordinate lengths to try and jazz up the presentation of hits where the band wasn't available in pre-video days - - Literally robbing banks (while dancing and smiling winningly, as always, of course) for The Clash's Bankrobber (and subversively undermining their punky 'Pops boycott in the process)... - dressed as flowers and a bee during Piero Umiliani's "classic" Mah Na Mah Na... - (below) dancing with an assortment of dogs during Gilbert O'Sullivan's 'Get Down', and literalising Macarthur Park with an actual cake-let-out-in-the-rain... - Typically Tropical's Barbados - the People clad in bikinis, in front of a pile of sand, a lame palm tree and a blue curtain, into which they CSO'd a picture of a Jumbo Jet as Babs and friends pranced around with beach balls. Ace. - Ruby Flipper "improvising" a bizarre primary-school-PE-style forward roll routine in front of some tellys for Bowie's undanceable TVC 15...

The two dancing 'hunks' accompanying Boystown Gang doing Can't Take My Eyes Off You... Jeffery Daniels with the first 'live' bodypopping display during a Shalamar song... Oh, and don't forget early 80s in-no-way-a-rip-off-of-Hot-Gossip troupe Zoo - from the party hats, balloons and happy meal flags era. They had blokes in there as well, most memorably fan-dancing in vests to highly inappropriate tunes like Automatic and Let It All Blow. Always remember a fairly theatrical performance by them to the Hill Street Blues - detective macs etc. Good old "Flick" Colby. During a performance by the Tams of their hit,"Hey, girl! Don't bother me." the band consisted of a fatherly lead singer out front with four backing singers clustered around a mike up back. During the song, the guys had to do some sort of dance,swinging their arms, clapping and whatever else passed for funky in those days.One member of the troupe, however, looked rather unwell,and was unable to keep up with the simple lyrics and dance moves.

During the chorus,the camera did a close up shot of each of the backing singers, crooning "hey,girl, don't bother me" in turn...this went very nicely indeed, and they started to go "OOOOHHHH!" to back up father funk in his earnest entreaty to the girl, and...PING! As if by magic the rather unwell one had completely vanished! Nowhere to be seen! But, the chorus was coming up again and there were the four individual shots to be lined up... So the obviously overworked cameraman took his position...took three close ups of the remaining members, and a strange close up of backing singer number three's left ear in lieu of our missing friend... "I shouldn't really be here..." All manner of ageing sitcom stars found themselves thrust in front of the pop tarts of a Thursday, but no-one had thought to brief them on how to act. Clive Dunn had the foresight to surround himself with simpering cross-legged girls for the doorbell-inspired Grandad, but Windsor Davies and Don Estelle couldn't have looked more ill-at-ease doing Whispering Grass in fron tof some spider plants. St.

Winifred's School Choir had a good run in, with the effable Grandma (gap-toothed "cutie" doing the solo) and backing Brian and Michael on Matchstalk Men - ("addy-addy-o", went the posh little treasures in what were world record-holdingly bad northern accents until the advent of that woman off Frasier). And indeed Brian's achievement of being a crap Gilbert O'Sullivan. More displaced TV noteables include Dennis Waterman and George Cole running through a tepid What Are We Gonna Get For 'Er Indoors? at Christmas, Des O'Connor clearly expecting to be attacked any moment (and rightly so, quite frankly) during a rendition of The Skye Boat Song with Roger Whittaker, and a truly grotesque turnout for Arthur Mullard and Hylda Baker's cover of You're The One That I Want. Stay indoors... Terry Wogan was lost in that studio as his avuncular but decidedly flat tonsils wrapped themselves around The Floral Dance... ... but of course, the oldest of them all, Sir Cliff, always took the studio by storm with his time-honoured trick of pausing before the final chorus and shouting "Everybody!" Something Norman Cook might like to try.

Playing it up... Fish from "Aylesbury's own" Marillion getting around a sore throat problem when performing Lavender live in 1985. He had a huge idiot board with the lyric on it and got the audience to sing the song for him while he just pointed at the words... Mick Jagger taking over the studio to do a weird conga with a bunch of stage school kids for his 1987 anti-dolite non-hit "Let's Work"... Farley Jackmaster Funk performing Love Can't Turn Around lying on his back in '86... The short-lived early '80s music hall-style singalonga scrolling lyrics screen lived out its tiny Pops life like an overhead projector in the wind. Check the Antmusic words unsteadily moving up behind a completely uninterested (as usual) standard-issue '81 t-shirts-'n'-balloons studio audience. Moments after this shot, the entire thing broke down, natch... One-off German Casiotonesters Trio enlisting an assembly line of small kids with "local weather report"-style drawings to sit around in the background while they ponced about to their atonal plinking "Da Da Da"...

Barry Manilow's classic Bermuda Triangle ("try and see it from my angle"), stood in an inflatable Argos paddling pool. Must've been a strike on, or something. Boney M and their various dodgy costumes to illustrate their hits - bizarro eskimo furs for Mary's Boy Child, the silly man (Bobby Whassname) as a loopy twirling cossack for Rasputin, etc... Oh, and The Goombay Dance Band (Danny Baker: "If you couldn't get Boney M, you could always give The Goombay Dance Band a ring") having the foresight to provide the entire crowd with scarves with the name of their record (Seven Tears) on them. Marketing? Eat shit, Malcolm McLaren. They also had a fire eater with them. That little touch of class, see? Magic. Godlike genius poet Ian Dury and the Blockheads got into navvy fatigues for the first Pops outing of the epoch-making number one Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, complete with hardhats and boots. No panties, though (we assume...) Jasper Carrott performing top Brummie novelty hit Funky Moped in THAT white suit...

The amazing animated police car (well, we say 'animated' - more a juddering cut-out done by a five year old) going across the screen during The Sweet's 'Blockbuster'... Coati Mundi, Kid Creole's diminutive percussion-playing sidekick, mugging it up like in an oversized beret like a black Barry Chuckle... Who could forget Howard Jones' "Mental Chains" dancer? Jones' answer to the Stalinist removal of the in-house dance troupe (possibly), he reached his zenith having a one-way silent 'conversation' with Cheggers in the Bargain Basement on the first ever Saturday Superstore... David Essex enlisting the help of whichever passing celebrities could be found in the studio to sing the "I Don't Think So" bit in his number-one smash Gonna Make You A Star. Les Gray of Mud got into various amusing stunts (yes, the early '70s was the prime era for Pops japes): The most famous was the belt-loop-thumb/dwarf-milking-a-cow dappy dance to Tiger Feet (featuring fluffy pretend tiger feet on the band members! The cards!).

Sub-Elvis yuletide maudlin ballad Lonely This Christmas was once presented as a bizarre duet between Les and an Archie Andrews-style ventriloquist's dummy, and The Secrets That You Keep featured an odd staged fight between Les and a bloke dressed up as a Mrs. Mopp-type studio cleaner, interrupting the band in full flow. The first-ever sighting of Kate Bush doing the widey-eyed Wuthering Heights, sitting cross-legged in some dry ice wilderness, waving arms about like a woman posessed. Jilted John and his ultra-fey anti-punk band (complete with one-fingered guitarist) ripping off Pulp five years before they existed. Yeah yeah, it's not fair... Rod Stewart and co. enlisting a self-effacing John Peel (in brown suede jacket, no less!) perched on a stool playing, well, miming at least, the mandolin for Maggie May, while the rest of them kicked footballs at each other...

Morrissey was responsible for many of the Pops' finest moments: The Smiths doing 'William It Was Really Nothing' and illustrating the line "would you like to marry me?" by having Morrissey rip his shirt open revealing the words, written in eyeliner, so legend has it. (cf. Mozzer "machine-gunning" the audience, Billy Liar style, during "How Soon Is Now", Mozzer glaring with utter hatred at member of audience that whooped during "Sheila Take A Bow", Mozzer just being Mozzer (early incarnation) during "What Difference Does It Make?" (open shirt, flowers, hearing aid, beads, flailing - audience flag waving and wearing head-bands/braces), Mozzer having the word "BAD" stencilled on his neck during "The Boy With The Thorn..." (having just returned from a disastrous US tour). And on "Whistle Test (when it was still Old and Grey), The Smiths en masse in school uniforms for "Bigmouth Strikes Again". Them was rotten days... Nirvana's Kurdt/Curt/Kirt Kobain/Cobain/Cobain on the then LIVE!

TOTP dropping an octave and solemnly singing "Load up on drugs, kill your friends", whilst performing Smells Like Teen Spirit. Oh, and the Eels hi-hi-ha-ha-hi-lariously turned up with a load of children's instruments, and proceeded to trash them towards the end of "Novocaine for the soul". ...or down, as the case may be Johnathan King appeared, singing dire ditty Everyone's Gone To The Moon, perched on an op-art stool... all on his own. Aaaah. The 'King never returned to the Pops studio. Well, not under his own name, at least. Carrying on from Ron "Sparks" Mael, the '80s plucked out a ripe crop of do-nothing motionless keyboard artists. New Order played live at every opportunity rather than mime, but apart from "Hooky", their visual performance differed little from a test card. Most infamous human statue was Chris Lowe, whose baseball cap never moved, stuck behind that TV and a keyboard that somebody lent him, until Raw Sex took the piss. After that, he stood still in a range of different hats.

And, as "housey housey music" leapt into suburban living rooms, there were any number of monolithically static artists stood behind decks, most notoriously Simon "Bass! How Low Can You Go?" Harris, looking like he was waiting on death row. What a bummer. The Wedding Present dressed in weird radiation-type suits and stood practically stock-still for the jangly, Dandy comic strip-referencing Brassneck... Bringing the "doing sod all" ticket (almost) bang up to date are ambient jugglers The Orb, who thrilled teeny audiences not once but twice, by sitting about playing Star Trecky 3D chess to The Blue Room, and sitting in fairground waltzers doing nowt to Toxygene. "Hiya! Welcome to Planet Pop!" The presenters were always splendidly awful. Gary Davies (right, in cool jacket, with Mike Read in shades) always had that habit of saying "what a beautiful record" after every mind-numbing Phil Collins duet, save for when linking into LL Cool J's I Need Love: "This is the first rap ballad," he proclaimed, with slightly more enthusiasm than might be deemed sane.

And of course, the monthly "live" edition - Kid Jensen or Janice Long would always announce at the end, "well I've got to rush off now to do my show on Radio One." Don't slip off the gantry steps and break your neck on our account, Kid... Peter Powell barking up Lionel Richie's video for Hello, by eulogising about the fact it had *dialogue* in it (ie. the words "Hi, Laura!"). This was when any technically half-impressive video (Take On Me, Sledgehammer etc) would be hailed as being on a par with Citizen Kane. Don't forget the storm (well, three people ringing into Open Air) when Gloria Hunniford's daughter, staying up late from Blue Peter, introduced rubbish acid house cash-in "We Call It Acieed" by D-Mob (themselves guilty of poor-quality attention grabbing with rubbish sub-Residents eyeball masks). "BP" presenters and drugs, eh? The more "senior" of Radio One's jock rota found it heavy going to fit in during the '80s.

The sight of DLT or Simon Bates, respectively clad in stupid bit of "wacky" wardrobe - v. often a deerstalker and bloody pipe; and smart-casual (left), was enough to turn the hardiest stomach. Only Jimmy Saville blended in, with a series of beyond belief mutton/lamb clobber... The 500th edition, with special appearances from The Osmonds AND David Cassidy, flown in specially and performing his hit on the tarmac at Heathrow Airport. And also the 1000th edition in 1983, with Jimmy Saville arriving on the APT train (good choice!) and HOWARD JONES singing I'd Like to Get to Know You Well, while, erm, shaking everyone's hand. Great. John Peel always managed a modicum of weird dignity, somehow. Whether failing to do the top 40 rundown properly with Janice Long ("At number 18, it's Jennifer Rush, scoring more often than Ian Rush..."), or those Brechtian vignettes with his genetic polar opposite, Kid Jensen (eg.

Jensen, standing on orange crate: "Hey there, shorty!" Peel: "All right, big guy!") Peel was a godsend for the airhead '80s 'Pops incarnation. After Haysi Fantayzee had finished "John Wayne is Big Leggy" John Peel made the immortal observation "they're so good doesn't it make you want to spit". And, After refering to Tracy Ullman as "multi-talented" during a chart rundown (it was around the time "Three of a kind" was on), John Peel then proceeded to refer to everyone in the charts as "multi-talented", ending with the "multi-talented F.R. David", the Euro popster of "Words" fame who went on to achieve immortality by being the first person to receive 0/10 in a Smash Hits album review. Ooh, yes! Noel and Tone livened up this Christmas Special by, erm, wearing crappy, half-arsed Robin Hood get-up (the green shirt is probably a coincidental Edmonds original).

See also the brief popularity of deelyboppers in about '82, and DLT's shameful marshmallows-on-sticks "I am an alien" headgear for "Calling Occupants..." That weird era when TOTP would be presented by one R1 DJ and one CBBC presenter all about? Simon Parkin, Andy Crane, Andi Peters - they were all on there. Not to mention that 1991 "year zero" revamp - Tony Dortie ("Laters!"), Mark Franklin, Femi "Central listings programme" Oke, Adrian Rose, Claudia Simon et al - where now, eh? Weirdos IN THE pantheon of all time nutters who made their scary mark in many a child's mind via the 'Pops, you can't get better than Sparks' RON MAEL. While his singing bruv Russell skipped about like Mick Jagger via Mick Robertson (usually in bare feet, an' all), silent keyboard type Ron sat stock-still behind his organ, in a smart three-piece suit and patented "dodgy symbolism" straight-edge Brilliantined haircut and small, clipped tache.

Had the unnerving habit of catching the camera out of the corner of his eye, and staring at it, unblinking, until it cut back again. One-fingered keyboard technique, with rest of upper body absolutely rigid, filtered down to New Order, The Pet Shop Boys' CHRIS LOWE, and many others. Another top in-studio scary was Jethro Tull's IAN ANDERSON. Aiming (presumably) at some sort of rustic pagan eccentric, the lanky flute wielder instead conjured up an image of a cider 'n' mushroom-addled village idiot, leaping about, doffing his silly hat and weilding his flute like some Wiltshire equivalent of nunchuckas. He also wasn't averse to the Ron Mael staring-out-the-cameraman gambit, only this time accompanied with a maniacal rictus grin. Which didn't make matters much better, to be honest. And of course, trannies are always "weird" to the majority of the 'Pops audience's dads.

A quick role call reveals - The glam original (Bowie) always freaked out the village elders, from that ginger cockerel's comb in '72 to the fried Ashes To Ashes video in 1980 (after that, he did Let's Dance and became most played artist on pub jukeboxes the land over)... The obvious-bloke trannies of the glam second wave - Mud's flares mutating into frocks, and of cours Steve Priest in full lippy and German helmet... Brian Eno at those wibbly Moogs for Virginia Plain... Spandau Ballet had the kilts and bedsheets, of course. Not strictly trannies, but they looked like fools. Boy George (of course) enraging suburban fathers up and down the land with that big arse of his. And, to a (much) lesser extent, Steve Strange and Marilyn. Ah, Marilyn... Pete Burns of Dead Or Alive doing the goth-tranny look for You Spin Me Round, including a pair of (literally) eye-watering mirrored contact lenses....

Gurning stupidly behind Peter Powell were - PPI, Chris Hughes, Steve Berry, Rob Adey, Matthew Bullen, Ben H, Jason Witcher, David Hookham, Duncan Sutcliffe, Matthew George, Robin Miller, Alun Thomas. Top of the Pops ï¿½ Tweet Top of the Pops On 26th July 2006, the final edition of Top of the Pops was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Just under 200 members of the public were in the audience for the show, which was co-hosted by veteran disc jockey Sir Jimmy Savile - its very first presenter. Classic performances from the Spice Girls, Wham, Madonna Beyonce Knowles and Robbie Williams featured in the show alongside The Rolling Stones who were the very first band to appear on Top of the Pops on New Year's Day in 1964, televised from the BBC studios in Manchester in the North of England. The end of Top Of The Pops! How could they? Top Of The Pops crept onto our TV screens on New Year's Day 1964, presented by the cigar-chomping tracksuit-modelling disc jockey Jimmy Savile.

Those early years brought all the rising stars into our living rooms: The Beatles The Stones, The Kinks, The Who, The Troggs, and any act from the other side of the pond would always end up on TOTP. The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops ï¿½ they all were featured. Initially acts performing on the show mimed to their latest record, but in July 1966, just after the show had been moved to London from Manchester, and after discussions with the Musicians' Union, miming was banned. After a few weeks during which some bands' attempts to play as well as on their records were somewhat lacking, a compromise was reached whereby a specially recorded backing track was permitted ï¿½ as long as all the musicians on the track were present in the studio. The TOTP Orchestra, led by Johnny Pearson, augmented the tracks when necessary. This arrangement continued until 1980. The show was originally intended for a short run, but ran for over 42 years; during its heyday in the 1970s, it attracted over 15 million viewers each week.

Sadly, due to the BBC's wiping old pop music programmes to save money on videotape, out of the first 500 episodes (1964ï¿½73) only about 20 complete recordings remain in the BBC archives. The programme gave us some memorable moments: When All About Eve performed a ï¿½liveï¿½ dubbed version of Martha's Harbour in 1988, owing to a studio technical error the taped vocals were broadcast without the band being able to hear them, resulting in the TV audience hearing the recorded version of the song, while the band members sat motionless on screen waiting for their cue to begin. While performing their 1982 hit Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile), the band Dexys Midnight Runners were seen performing in front of a projection of the darts player Jocky Wilson instead of soul singer Jackie Wilson. Opinions differ as to whether this was deliberate or accidental. One of my favourites was when Rod Stewart and The Faces appeared playing Maggie May. They were joined by their staunch supporter DJ John Peel - miming the mandolin part that was played by Lindisfarneï¿½s Ray Jackson on the record.

Near the end of the song, Rod and the Faces begin to kick around a football - despite the fact that the music can be still heard playing in the background. But never mind the artists, here comes Panï¿½s People! The only reason the majority of the UK male population tuned into the show every Thursday night wasnï¿½t to see the latest poptastic tune ï¿½ it was to drool over the girl dancers in the skimpiest of outfits. In an era before pop videos, they danced to songs whose original artists were not available to perform them live. The girls were gorgeous, with nicknames like ï¿½Babsï¿½, ï¿½Flickï¿½ and ï¿½Dee Deeï¿½. Whoever ï¿½Panï¿½ was didnï¿½t matter, (who was Pan?). All that mattered was seeing those six hippy chicks doing the craziest formation dances known to man. After Panï¿½s People TOTP gave us more dancing girls: Ruby Flipper, Legs & Co. and Zoo, and they were all good. But no-one could replace Panï¿½s People.

Some acts would send up the whole scenario - The Stranglers drummer played his kit facing the wrong way and when Oasis mimed to their hit Whatever in 1994, one of the cello players from the symphony orchestra was replaced by rhythm guitarist Bonehead, who clearly had no idea how the instrument should be played. On Nirvana's only performance on the show, Kurt Cobain "played" his guitar with his fingers inches away from the frets while drummer Dave Grohl danced around for most of the performance. The last show was broadcast on 30th July 2006, and it didnï¿½t go out with a bang, more of a sad whimper. Nobody cared about TOTP anymore, nobody really cared about the charts anymore. Chart History Willie Can Beverley Sisters From 10th March 1960 the chart was compiled by the retail music magazine Record Retailer (later to become MUSIC WEEK), although N.M.E. continued to publish its own independent charts as other magazines such as Melody Maker and Disc& Music Echo had theirs. From this date the charts them became a Top 50.

Although Music Week (Record Retailer) was an RECORD INDUSTRY magazine sent to record shops, their charts became available to the public when printed in the magazine RECORD MIRROR, from March 1962 right up until the day it went out of print in April 1991. US records where the sounds of the time until the arrival of The Beatles, and for the first time in March 1964 UK acts dominated all the Top 10 positions. This could be perhaps due to the arrival of Pirate Radio in Britain of which the first was Radio Caroline on Good Friday 1964. 1st January 1964 saw the first ever edition of the TV show TOP OF THE POPS from the BBC, it was first broadcast on Wednesday evenings at 18.35 hrs. It was intended to only last for 6 weeks, with an option for another 6, but due to its popularity they kept it going, though; now in a slightly different format it is still being broadcast.

After the initial broadcasting it then went out on Thursday evenings at 19.00 hrs (7pm) for years, but now it goes out at 19.30 hrs (7.30pm) on Fridays. It also now has sister programs (still called Top Of The Pops) in Germany, Holland and indeed in over 80 countries worldwide. Germany's version started in October 1998. There, it is recorded in Berlin and can be seen in the UK by anyone who has analogue Satellite TV through the ASTRA SATELLITE Transponder No.2 on the German station R.T.L. on Saturday evenings at 16.45 hrs (4.45pm) UK time. Both in Germany & Holland they are longer shows than that of the UK (1 hour) and Germany's also has a competition and News of Artists and Bands. In the USA they had a licence to broadcast their own Top Of The Pops in the late 80s but was dropped after about a year. The original TOTP in the UK was broadcast from an old BBC building which was a disused church in Dickenson Road, Manchester. This building has long since been demolished.

There were 4 original presenters: Pete Murray, Alan Freeman, David Jacobs and the man who presented the very first was Sir Jimmy Saville. It was completely live in those days with no pre-recordings and the artists performed both instrumentally and vocally LIVE. Artists who did not have a backing band were accompanied by the BBC Top Os The Pops Orchestra. The artists appearing on that very first show, in order were:- ROLLING STONES - I Wanna Be Your Man, DUSTY SPRINGFIELD - I Only Want To Be With You, DAVE CLARK FIVE - Glad All Over, HOLLIES - Stay, SWINGING BLUE JEANS - Hippy Hippy Shake and THE BEATLES - I Want To Hold Your Hand which was at number one. The show always ends with the number one single although this had 2 exceptions, 1 was in 1969 when Je'Taime... by Jane Birkin and the other in 1984, Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood were number ones. At those times those 2 records were banned by the BBC.

As far as the Jane Birkin song was concerned their was a twist in the tale as an instrumental version called Love At First Sight by group Sounds Nice was played but this version only peaked at number 18. Around this time Germany has its own pop shows, one of which, similar in format to TOTP was BEAT CLUB. This was a great show and lasted well into the 70s and featured mainly UK and US acts, also one of the presenters was British DJ, Dave Lee Travis. Lots of editions of this show still survive today, and clips can sometimes be seen on the UK version of satellite TV station VH1. The previous year ITV started its own pop show on Friday nights and its catchphrase was The Weekend Starts Here. On this show though, (which featured the gorgeous Cathy McGowan) most acts mimed to their records. This show was called READY STEADY GO. The rights to all the recordings of this show that are known to still exist are owned by Dave Clark formerly of top 60s band DAVE CLARK FIVE. When TOTP was launched on 1st January 1964.

The week's chart was: POS Walking Alone Richard Anthony Good Friday 1964 saw the first broadcast by a British Pirate Radio Station RADIO CAROLINE later to become Radio Caroline South and broadcast from a ship moored just over 3 miles off the Essex coast. As pop music was in very short supply on radio in the UK except for the evenings when Radio Luxembourg was broadcasting. Due to this station's broadcast coming from Luxembourg on Medium Wave Band (AM), the signal used to fade in and out very badly. Radio Caroline was started by Irish businessman Ronan O'Reilly. This prompted the start of many pirate radio stations all just outside British territorial waters on both ships and wartime forts. There were over 20 at one period. They played non-stop pop music 24 hours a day. One of the best known DJs to come from Radio Caroline and later Radio London was Tony Blackburn. When the Marine Offences Act of 1967 came into force all but one of them closed down and the British Government stated that anyone sending supplies to them or advertising on them would be prosecuted. Also anyone working on them would be prosecuted if they came inside territorial waters after the 14th August 1967 deadline.

The only station to carry on broadcasting was Radio Caroline South (the station that started it all) and at 00.01 hrs on 15th August 1967 the first record played was We Shall Overcome by Joan Baez. 26th January 1967 saw the chart entry for the first week, of the record with the longest number of continuous weeks in the UK chart. This record was Release Me by Englebert Humperdinck which spent a massive 56 continuous weeks in the UK charts, then still a Top 50. 30th September 1967 saw the first broadcast of Radio One from the BBC and at 7.00 on this day the very first record was introduced by DJ Tony Blackburn. The record being FLOWERS IN THE RAIN by MOVE. On 21st January 1965, a unique chart occasion happened but unknown at this time but the first of 2 chart entries (the other first charted on 1st November 1967), of the title EVERYBODY KNOWS by DAVE CLARK FIVE. Both had the same title, both by the same artist but were quite different songs.

The only other time to come close to this was the chart entry of 13th October 1984 and 15th December 1990 there were 2 different songs both called Freedom. The 1984 entry was by WHAM and the 1990 entry was by GEORGE MICHAEL who was also on the single by Wham. Still on the subject of unique chart occasions the next one was on the charts of 4th October 1969 and the following week on the 11th. This was unique in that they contained a record at 2 different chart positions which were the same song the same artists and the same recorded version. The only thing different is that they were both on different record labels. The song in question was JE T'AIME...MOI NON PLUS by JANE BIRKIN & SERGE GAINSBOURG. It was originally released on the Fontana label but was banned by Radio One at that time due to its erotic sound, so due to its controversy Fontana withdrew the record and was then released on the Major Minor label.

Because there were Fontana singles still in the shops along with the Major Minor release, on 4 October 1969 the Major Minor release was at number 3 and the Fontana single at number 16. Also at that time it was the biggest ever selling single for a completely foreign language record. This seemed to be the period of the banned record for on it's way down this chart after peaking at number 10 was reggae record WET DREAM by MAX ROMEO. Also banned at this time were WRECK A BUDDY by SOUL SISTERS and EROTICA by RITA. The following chart is for 4th October 1969: POS The Hunt Barry Ryan There were 2 instances when at 2 different positions with the same record by the same artists (Leader Of The Pack by Shangri-las) in 1976 and (Shout by Lulu) in 1986, but they were the original version and either a re-recorded or re-mixed version. On 5th May 1978 the charts were further extended to a Top 75. At this time they were compiled by the British Market Research Bureau.

Later the charts were compiled by Gallup. Radio One stayed just with the Top 40 as it still does today. If they played the complete Top 75, their Chart Show rundown on Sunday evenings would last 4 hours! The first ever Top 75 Chart: POS Syptom Of The Universe Ozzy Osbourne 19th March 1983 was the entry date of the best selling 12inch single of all time which peaked at number 8 and was in and out of the Top 100 for nearly 5 years. The record: BLUE MONDAY by NEW ORDER. From May 1991 the charts were still a Top 100 however only the Top 75 was actually published due to a drop in singles sales. 6th July 1991 saw the first week at number one for the record that spent the longest number of continuous weeks at number one, this was Everything I Do by Bryan Adams which spent 16 weeks at number one and totalled 24 weeks in the UK Top 75.

Just under a year later was the second highest number of continuous weeks at number one, this was Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet which spent 15 weeks and a total UK Top 75 run of 37 weeks. The Charts are now compiled by CIN. 21st February 1998 saw the second single to make the Top 75 on import sales alone before an official UK release. The record: IT'S LIKE THAT by RUN DMC vs JASON NEVINS. Following on 21st March 1998 was the next one which was IT'S TRICKY also by RUN DMC vs JASON NEVINS. 1999 exaggerated the situation in the UK charts in that from 1st August to 30th November there were 10 singles that entered the UK top 75 that had not had an official UK release and therefore made the charts on import sales alone. There have never been so many singles on sales of imports only hit the charts in such a short time before. All but 2 of them (*) were big European produced hits.

DATE Madison Avenue 30 Now we are in the new Millennium the only artist to have a Top 10 hit in 6 decades from the 50s through to 2000 is Cliff Richard. Though he is not liked by everyone this is still a great milestone. His first single MOVE IT first entered the UK charts on 12 September 1958 and reached number 2. He has had 65 Top 10 hits and sold more than 86 million singles worldwide. Right at the beginning of the new millennium another unique occasion has happened on the UK charts. On the 10th January 2000, the record MASSES AGAINST THE CLASSES by MANIC STREET PREACHERS was released. 24 hours later the record was deleted but it still made number 1 on the 16th January. This is something that has never happened before in chart history. The UK's single releases are behind again! The charts for 19th & 26th February 2000 see 3 more singles hit the charts on import sales only.

The following is a list of all singles to chart in the new millennium, with no UK Release and have charted on sales of imports only: DATE Blow Ya Mind Lock N Load Chart History continues to be made. The latest is a record which entered the UK charts on 15th April 2000. It has become the longest Top 75 survivor than any other that failed to make the Top 20 - a full 21 weeks! The record is AMAZING by LONESTAR (appropriately titled)! 2000 has seen a new record in the history of the charts as MY LOVE becomes Irish boy band WESTLIFE'S 8th consecutive number one out of their first 8 releases although the follow-up WHAT MAKES A MAN breaks the sequence in December as CAN WE FIX IT by animation character BOB THE BUILDER keeps it at number 2 over the Christmas period. The charts for week ending 24th February 2001 has seen the first single to top the charts in for more than 3 weeks in this millennium. This is quite a rare thing these days. The single in question is WHOLE AGAIN by ATOMIC KITTEN.

On 19th March 2000 the brand new UK number one makes another historic record. The single in question is PURE & SIMPLE by HEAR'SAY. This has become the fastest selling single ever for a debut disc. A phenomenal 600,000 in just 6 days. This band was got together on the UK TV show Popstars which showed them auditioning right through to making the big time. There have also been versions of this show in USA (Eden's Crush), Germany (No Angels) Australia (Bardot), Ireland (Six), France (L5), New Zealand and Sweden (Exellence). The New Zealand group sank without trace but the Australian group also hit big time and have so far had 4 singles in the Aussie Top 10. On 6th May 2001 another chart record has been set. This time the honours go to GERI HALLIWELL who's song IT'S RAINING MEN (a cover of the Weather Girls 1980s hit) became her 4th UK consecutive number one single. This makes her the first female UK solo singer ever to have 4 solo consecutive number one hits in the UK.

August 2001 sees another piece of chart history made in that OVER THE RAINBOW by EVA CASSIDY becomes the first single ever to chart for more than 25 weeks without ever reaching the Top 40. The chart for week ending 26th January 2002 sees the next landmark: It is the first time that posthumous number ones have followed each other. In this case it is those of the late GEORGE HARRISON & AALIYAH. When TOTP finished on 30th July 2006. The week's chart was: 1

Question: Who presented the first ever 'Top of the Pops'?
Answer: Jimmy Saville